Prior to his congressional career, Kennedy served as District Attorney for Middlesex County.[3]

Based on analysis of multiple outside rankings, Kennedy is an average Democratic member of Congress, meaning he will vote with the Democratic Party on the majority of bills.

Biography

Kennedy earned his bachelor's degree from Stanford University. Upon graduation, he went on to obtain his law degree from Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. From 2004-2006, he served in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic, where he helped local residents establish control over the Rio Damajagua waterfall national park. He served several Massachusetts counties as Assistant District Attorney before he occupied the same position for Middlesex County.[3]

Career

Below is an abbreviated outline of Kennedy's academic, professional and political career:[4]

Key votes

113th Congress

The second session of the 113th Congress enacted into law 114 out of the 3,036 introduced bills (3.8 percent). Comparatively, the 112th Congress had 4.2 percent of introduced bills enacted into law in the second session.[7] For more information pertaining to Kennedy's voting record in the 113th Congress, please see the below sections.[8]

National security

NDAA

Kennedy voted in opposition of HR 1960 - the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014. The bill passed the House on June 14, 2013, with a vote of 315 - 108. Both parties were somewhat divided on the vote.[9]

DHS Appropriations

Kennedy voted in opposition of HR 2217 - the DHS Appropriations Act (2014) Act of 2014. The bill passed the House on June 6, 2013, with a vote of 245 - 182 and was largely along party lines.[9]

Economy

Farm bill

On January 29, 2014, the U.S. House approved the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013, H.R. 2642, known as the Farm Bill.[10] The bill passed by a vote of 251-166. The nearly 1,000-page bill provides for the reform and continuation of agricultural and other programs of the Department of Agriculture through 2018. The $1 trillion bill expanded crop insurance for farmers by $7 billion over the next decade and created new subsidies for rice and peanut growers that would kick in when prices drop.[11][12] However, cuts to the food stamp program cut an average of $90 per month for 1.7 million people in 15 states.[12] Kennedy voted with 102 other Democraticrepresentatives against the bill.

2014 Budget

On January 15, 2014, the Republican-run House approved H.R. 3547, a $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the government through September 30, 2014.[13][14] The House voted 359-67 for the 1,582 page bill, with 64 Republicans and three Democrats voting against the bill.[14] The omnibus package included 12 annual spending bills to fund federal operations.[15] It included a 1 percent increase in the paychecks of federal workers and military personnel, a $1 billion increase in Head Start funding for early childhood education, reduced funding to the Internal Revenue Service and the Environmental Protection Agency, and the protection of the Affordable Care Act from any drastic cuts. Kennedy joined with the majority of the Democratic party and voted in favor of the bill.[13][14]

Government shutdown

On September 30, 2013, the House passed a final stopgap spending bill before the shutdown went into effect. The bill included a one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate and would have also stripped the bill of federal subsidies for congressional members and staff. It passed through the House with a vote of 228-201.[16] At 1 a.m. on October 1, 2013, one hour after the shutdown officially began, the House voted to move forward with going to a conference. In short order, Sen. Harry Reid rejected the call to conference.[17] Kennedy voted against the stopgap spending bill that would have delayed the individual mandate.[18]

The shutdown ended on October 16, 2013, when the House took a vote on HR 2775 after it was approved by the Senate. The bill to reopen the government lifted the $16.7 trillion debt limit and funded the government through January 15, 2014. Federal employees also received retroactive pay for the shutdown period. The only concession made by Senate Democrats was to require income verification for Obamacare subsidies.[19] The House passed the legislation shortly after the Senate, by a vote of 285-144, with all 144 votes against the legislation coming from Republican members. Kennedy voted for HR 2775.[20]

Immigration

Morton Memos Prohibition

Kennedy voted against House Amendment 136 - Prohibits the Enforcement of the Immigration Executive Order. The amendment was adopted by the House on June 6, 2013, with a vote of 224 - 201. The purpose of the amendment as stated on the official text is to "prohibit the use of funds to finalize, implement, administer, or enforce the Morton Memos." These memos would have granted administrative amnesty to certain illegal aliens residing in the United States.[21] The vote largely followed party lines.[22]

Healthcare

Kennedy has voted against all attempts to repeal or delay the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.[23]

Social issues

Abortion

Kennedy voted against HR 1797 - Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. The resolution passed the House on June 18, 2013, with a vote of 228 - 196. The purpose of the bill is to ban abortions that would take place 20 or more weeks after fertilization.[24]

Issues

On The Issues Vote Match

On The Issues conducts a VoteMatch analysis of elected officials based on 20 issue areas. Rather than relying on incumbents to complete the quiz themselves, the VoteMatch analysis is conducted using voting records, statements to the media, debate transcripts or citations from books authored by or about the candidate. Based on the results of the quiz, Kennedy is a Populist-Leaning Liberal. Kennedy received a score of 70 percent on social issues and 19 percent on economic issues.[25]

On The Issues organization logo.

The table below contains the results of analysis compiled by staff at On The Issues.

Economy

King Amendment

Kennedy signed a letter sent to Collin Peterson in August 2013, asking him to keep Steve King's amendment out of the final Farm Bill.[27] The "Protect Interstate Commerce Act" amendment prevents states from applying their own laws on agricultural products to agricultural products from another state.[28]. King introduced the amendment in response to a law in California, requiring a larger size cage for egg-producing chickens. King represents Iowa, which is a large egg producer.

Immigration

24 hour fast

Kennedy joined immigration activists in a fast in an effort to encourage Congress to take up immigration reform. Kennedy fasted for 24 hours and then another Congress member took over the fast. On December 3, 2013, Speaker of the House John Boehner announced he had a new policy staffer working specifically on immigration issues, suggesting that House Republicans are also open to reform.[29]

Campaign themes

2012

Excerpt: "The top creators of jobs in our district and state are small businesses. We need to do everything we can to make sure they have the tools and resources they need to start hiring, and that government is helping them rather than standing in the way."

Balancing our budget

Excerpt: "I believe in a country where the success of our future generations isn’t limited by the debts of their parents and grandparents. We have an obligation to our children – to their children – to get serious about balancing our budget and reducing our debt and deficit."

Energy independence

Excerpt: "A comprehensive energy plan is essential to the economy, environment, and security of our district, state and country. That means maximizing our domestic resources in a responsible way, seriously committing to renewable energy technologies and fuel efficiency measures, and cracking down on speculators manipulating the markets at the expense of working families

Health care reform

Excerpt: "I support the path set forth by the Affordable Care Act. It’s not perfect, but it makes some important reforms like paving the way for universal coverage, making sure insurance companies can’t discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, and guaranteeing women access to essential health services. There is still much work to do to make health care more efficient, more effective, and more transparent."

Joseph Kennedy III, "Kennedy announces his candidacy for Congress"

Foreign policy and security

Excerpt: "We have no greater obligation than protecting the safety and security of our country and her citizens at home and abroad. We’re facing one of the most complicated foreign policy landscapes in our history. We’re engaged in a global fight against terror involving multiple fronts, repeated deployments, tens of thousands dead and wounded, and great uncertainty."

Education

Excerpt: "Providing access to quality education is the number one way to ensure that a child has the chance to succeed. It’s also one of the most significant investments that we as a society can make in our economic future. Unless and until every child is prepared to take up the challenge of continuing our great history of innovation and high-skilled work, we will continue to fall behind where we once led."

Social Justice

Excerpt: "I believe that this country was founded on the principles of equality and fairness, and that we should be doing all we can to ensure those basic ideals continue to light our way."

Women's Rights

Excerpt: "I believe this country was founded on the basic principles of equality and fairness. The fight to preserve and strengthen women’s rights is at the epicenter of our efforts to make sure those fundamental values hold true for future generations."[30]

Fundraising events

Comprehensive donor history

Comprehensive donor information for Kennedy is available dating back to 2012. Based on available campaign finance records, Kennedy raised a total of $4,204,050 during that time period. This information was last updated on May 16, 2013.[34]

PGI: Change in net worth

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org, Kennedy's net worth as of 2012 was estimated between $15,127,233 and $48,801,997. That averages to $31,964,615, which is higher than the average net worth of Democratic representatives in 2012 of $5,700,168.36. Kennedy ranked as the 22nd most wealthy representative in 2012.[42] Between 2011 and 2012, Kennedy's calculated net worth[43] decreased by an average of 12 percent per year. Between 2004 and 2012, the average annual percentage increase for a member of Congress was 15.4 percent.[44]

Comparatively, the American citizen experienced a median yearly decline in net worth of -0.94%.[46]

The data used to calculate changes in net worth may include changes resulting from assets gained through marriage, inheritance, changes in family estates and/or trusts, changes in family business ownership and many other variables unrelated to a member's behavior in Congress.

Lifetime voting record

According to the website GovTrack, Kennedy missed 19 of 1,120 roll call votes from January 2013 to August 2014, which is 1.7% of votes during that period. This is better than the median of 2.5% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving.[49]

National Journal vote ratings

Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of Congress voted in the previous year. Click the link above for the full ratings of all members of Congress.

↑The questions in the quiz are broken down into two sections -- social and economic. In social questions, liberals and libertarians agree in choosing the less-government answers, while conservatives and populists agree in choosing the more-restrictive answers. For the economic questions, conservatives and libertarians agree in choosing the less-government answers, while liberals and populists agree in choosing the more-restrictive answers.